Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched

Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex

The epic story of how science went â€œbigâ€ and the forgotten genius who started it allâ€”â€œentertaining, thoroughly researchedâ€¦partly a biography, partly an account of the influence of Ernest Lawrenceâ€™s great idea, partly a short history of nuclear physics and the Bombâ€ (The Wall Street Journal).

Since the 1930s, the scale of scientific endeavor has grown exponentially. The first particle accelerator could be held in its creatorâ€™s lap, while its successor grew to seventeen miles in circumference and cost ten billion dollars. We have invented the atomic bomb, put man on the moon, and probed the inner workings of nature at the scale of subatomic particlesâ€”all the result of Big Science, the model of industrial-scale research paid for by governments, departments of defense, and corporations that has driven the great scientific projects of our time.

The birth of Big Science can be traced nearly nine decades ago in Berkeley, California, when a young scientist with a talent for physics declared, â€œIâ€™m going to be famous!â€ His name was Ernest Orlando Lawrence. His invention, the cyclotron, would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact, which would be felt in academia, industry, and international politics. It was the beginning of Big Science.

â€œAn exciting bookâ€¦.A bright narrative that captures the wonder of nuclear physics without flying off into a physics Neverlandâ€¦.Big Science is an excellent summary of how physics became nuclear and changed the worldâ€ (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland). This is the â€œabsorbing and expansiveâ€ (Los Angeles Times) story that is â€œimportant for understanding how science and politics entwine in the United Statesâ€¦with striking details and revealing quotationsâ€ (The New York Times Book Review).
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2015-07-07
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2015-07-07
Format	Kindle eBook

Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex

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